I do understand Michael's recommendation of "staged" pricing and I agree that it can be a tool for selling a paint job. However, I have never approached a job with anything less than high quality results in mind, and I price it accordingly. Your reputation for quality depends entirely on the end result. Once that reputation is established you can market the higher cost of quality as a value to your customers. I see no need to compete with one's self during the sit down.

I think that it is important to recognize the HOW of sq.footage bidding.!

There are two types;

1. Actual Sq. Foot measurements and therefore actual sq.foot prices. This means a room that is 10x15x8(lengthxwidthxheight)=(10+15)X2X8=400 sq.feet. This is the ACTUAL square feet of the surfaces you are estimating to prep and paint. This price usually is somewhere between 75 cents to 85 cents a sq. foot, including materials.

2. Heated Floor Sq.foot measurements are the length x's the width of the room. That is 150 sq.ft in our room example above. This price is usually around 2.50 to 4.50 a sq. foot depending on materials prices, amount of difficulty of prep and accessibility to the surfaces and other misc. details of the job!

Price differs... who in their right mind would paint a 400 sq. ft room @ 75-85 cents for HEATED floor sq footage? That equals 112.50$, instead of the actual sq.foot price of 300-375$?

I think we need to keep in mind the differences here!

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"God loved the world in this way; He sent His only first born son into the world that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life!" -John 3:16

I just wanted to add my "two cents". I was at a job fair the other day and I found out that most of the large home builders in my area only want to pay about $1.35-$1.45 a sq ft and you have to provide the paint!

That is exactly why we very seldom work for building contractors. They are trying to make a huge profit on our work, they charge their client at least double for the painting & don't lift a finger or provide any supplies. All they provide is a big headache pushing you to finish in a hurry. Maybe one day painting contractors will wise up to the GC's. They have no loyalty, they will take the lowest bidder everytime.

Lynjo

« Last Edit: February 18, 2007, 07:07:40 PM by Lynjowoman »

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"Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult."Charlotte Whitton

There is a world of difference in painting new construction and doing residential repaints.

A building contractor doesn't care what the results look like within reason. They assume the buyer will repaint anyway. On the other hand an owner (residential repaint) cares a lot about the end results. After all, the repaint is part and parcel with home decorating.

A painter doing residential repaints should be paid quite a bit more because they are providing so many services that the new construction painter is never concerned with. ie,

Dealing with people in the home Protecting furniture and floors, etc Consulting on color selection Making necessary repairs

Once you start dealing with the above and all the other problems not mentioned it's easy to quote the higher price with confidence. Like other post have said, good work gets a reputation and good customers don't mind paying for it.

A lot of our clients that have remodeling work done tell the contractor up front they want us to do the painting. They have finally realized it is really cheaper to pay us themselves instead of going through the contractor. They tell them not to include the painting in their remodeling. That is a win win situation for everyone except the GC.

Lynjo

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"Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult."Charlotte Whitton

i understand what lynjo means about contractors. i also am new to the painting business. have doneit on the side off and on many times in the past. a contractor just gave me a job of painting somepaneled walls. it took five coats of primer just to keep from bleeding through. i probably made about$7 per hour and busted my butt. however, the customer added a ceiling to paint which i made about$35 per hour. now, she wants me to change out her kitchen counter tops and put in a new hardwoodfloor. jobs that were suppose to go to the contractor. i did an excellent job painting for her and ammaking up for my loss in customer satisfaction and additional work. as a result, this customer will notuse the original contractor again. i just keep my mouth shut and she adds more work.

i don't know much about estimating, but in order for this work to be worth my while, i need $20 per hour.

i figure $1 a sq ft., 2 coats of paint, includes trim work, not the ceilings, and the customers pays formaterials. so a 10 x 10 sq ft room would be $100 plus the cost of materials. materials being paint,rollers, and paint tray liners. not brushes. i add a little extra for any obstacles or additional patching needed unless it is minor stuff like nail holes. the ceiling would be 1/2 that, or $50 plus materials.

or, i charge $2.50 a linear foot. same difference.

i am not as fast as i would like to be, but i am very meticulous about the outcome.

i would have, except the final cost would have been close to $2000. it was an elderly lady who hasbeen caring for her handicapped son for 44 years. all he can do is eat and walk. her husband passedaway 5 years ago and nothing has been done to her house for 7 years. it was one of those jobs thatlooked easy at first, but every step of the job led to another problem. i charged her $850 to paint herliving room, kitchen cabinet doors, wallpaper a small bathroom, wallpaper a half wall in her dining area,and some miscellaneous work. it just turned out to be very time consuming, and i am picky.

i felt compassion for her situation. turned out to my betterment though. as i said, she hadme paint a ceiling and do a couple odds and ends which i got $250 for and i will be changing hercounter tops and putting in a hardwood floor. guess i'll work my raise in on those jobs.

another benefit is that she and her daughter give piano lessons at her house, and although i haven'tany commitments yet, 3 people mentioned using me to paint at their homes.

As for those who sell themselves short, I was one of them for a long time, then I did some testing to find out what i should be charging. Test your market. Who cares what others are charging, they don't matter. Slowly increase your bid (whether you use an hourly base or sq.ft base) with each quote you give till you get the feeling that price is starting to get in the way of getting the jobs. Thats where your price point lies.